A Legacy
by fringeperson
Summary: DO NOT OWN. Killers aren't in the business of life, and thieves aren't all that interested in giving, but somehow these two came together, and the thief gave the killer a new life. Sometimes, one person is enough to change history. slash.
1. Chapter 1

He was a wanderer, that he was, and content with that life too. Settling down had never really happened to him in his life before, even with his master, who had stayed in the same place for a couple of months before moving on again.

As a captive on the way to being sold as a slave, he walked all day for months. As his master's apprentice, he walked all day for weeks between stops for a couple of months. During the war, he had travelled at least every other day, often many nights, always bound for an assassination. After the war, he'd kept moving, meeting people sometimes, trying to atone for his sins, protecting those that were before him. Not much of a life some might say, but it was his, that it was.

"How old are you?" a deep, silky voice asked from the shadows.

Kenshin never liked the sound of that question, and it put his back up immediately, especially out in the country, where the next village was still several days journey.

"Only, your eyes look old, and you carry that sword like a master, but your body doesn't look more than eighteen," the silky voice continued, "and your face no more than thirty."

"Who asks?" Kenshin demanded, his hand reaching for his sword.

A deep, sinful chuckle sounded. "No need to be like that," the voice said. "I'm just a simple spirit fox. I'm not going to do you any harm – but who are _you,_ young one with old eyes?" The owner of the voice stepped out of the shadows of the trees. "Boy with blood on his soul?"

Kenshin stared up at the figure before him. Tall was the first thought in his head, even as his ears registered the words 'spirit fox' and associated them with the ears and tail he was seeing.

"Himura Kenshin," he answered. "And this one is just a wanderer, that he is."

The spirit fox smiled. "Just wandering? Or are you trying to run away from your nightmares, young samurai?"

Kenshin stepped back, frowning, not liking how the spirit fox made such accurate assumptions about him and his life.

The spirit fox chuckled once more. "I mean you no harm, Himura-san. I wish merely to know you better. Come, you must have wearied your feet with walking. My den is just a few paces off the main road," the tall, silvery creature invited.

Kenshin still hung back. "This one has heard of what becomes of those who let themselves be tempted off the road by those who are not human," he said. "This one has no wish to become the meal of a demon, that he does not."

The spirit fox laughed. "I do not eat humans," he said, "and I have long disassociated myself with those who do. You will be quite safe in my company, Himura-san. If you do not believe me," he added, bending down and bringing his face close to Kenshins, "you may smell that my breath is not as fetid as those who _do_ eat such flesh, and the only filth upon _my_ hands is the green stain of the plants that I tend." The spirit fox stood straight once more, and held out his hands for a moment before he dropped them to his sides again and turned to enter the undergrowth.

Kenshin's defensive stance eased once the spirit fox was no longer in his personal space, and he took his hand away from the hilt of his sword, but he was no less tensed, ready for the possibility of danger from the spirit fox, even as he followed the tall creature into the greenery and off the road.

True to the word of the creature, the 'den' was only a short way from the road. In fact, from the entrance, Kenshin could see up and down the road for some distance, though he knew this place could not be seen from the road – or he would have spotted it himself, that he would.

"I don't like people sneaking up on me," the spirit fox said, amusement in his voice, as he noticed his guest taking in the area, and more to the point, the view. "I like being alive after all."

Kenshin winced, not appreciating the reference to his past that the spirit fox had, unwittingly or otherwise, just made.

"Ah, young assassin then," the fox said, and sadness now tinged his tone. "I am sorry for what has been inflicted upon you by your own kind. Please, sit. I shall do likewise and our heights shall not seem so different."

The two sat down on cushions a low table between them, and the spirit fox made tea for them at the table.

"So, Himura-san, how old are you?" the silver fox asked again. "You never did answer me before."

"This one is twenty-six years old, that he is," Kenshin answered. "And in those twenty-six years he has been beaten as a slave, taught the sword, killed thousands of people, married and become a widower, and now become a wanderer. May this one enquire as to the age of his host?"

"I'm roughly seven-hundred years old," the spirit fox answered. "And forgive my manners, I have not properly introduced myself. I am called Yoko Kurama."

"The thief," Kurama added softly, not accusing, but completing the statement.

His host nodded. "Indeed. The cunning, sly, ruthless thief. All the same, I have never killed a human that did not seek to destroy me first, and certainly never devoured one. To those in the next village, I am a revered spirit, bringing good fortune to their fields. To the greedy daimyo, I am a pestilence, robbing him of treasures he has no need or true love for, and forcing him to buy more. A thief is good for the economy, if that thief is me."

Kenshin nodded his understanding of this.

"What do you do, Himura-san, when the sun sets and you have not reached a village?" Yoko asked, looking out of the den at the horizon.

"This one finds a tree to lean against and sleeps where he sits, that he does," Kenshin answered.

Yoko nodded. "I offer my bed to you," he said. "I will guard you tonight, and as many nights as you care to stay. I have missed having company since Kuronue died."

"This one thanks you, that he does."

~oOo~

Kenshin, accustomed as he was to wandering, found it odd when he sat one day at the mouth of Yoko's den, and contemplated how long he had stayed. A single night had turned into two, then three, then five, and then he had stayed a full week, and then another. He had been here for almost a month now. Admittedly, not the longest that he had stayed in one place, but the longest he had stayed in one place since he had left his master before the war.

When it was quiet, as it was now, Kenshin wondered why he had not left yet.

"This one is restless, perhaps that is all," he murmured to himself. "He has not had a life of peace like this one before, that he has not." That short time with his wife did not really count. That had been hiding, always tense and battle ready. This time was very different to that one.

"Himura-san?" Yoko's voice, smooth and rich, broke into his thoughts. "The rice is ready for breakfast. Will you eat today?"

Kenshin stood and went back into the den. "This one thanks you, that he does," he said.

Yoko cocked his head as he watched Kenshin sit at the table and picked up his chopsticks. "Himura-san," he said gently, watching rice disappear into that small mouth. "What troubles you?"

Kenshin looked up at his host, surprise in his large, violet eyes. He swallowed his rice and took his chopsticks from his mouth. "This one has never had such a peaceful life before, that he has not. This one has been always fighting or moving, that he has. How can anything be achieved by going nowhere?"

Yoko nodded. "I understand," he said. "You still carry a burdened soul, and it weighs heavily on you now that you aren't punishing yourself or fulfilling your vow to protect those before you."

Kenshin hung his head. The month he had been here had been long enough for the observant spirit fox to have drawn out all of Kenshin's secrets, even without the red-head saying anything.

"Tomoe was never with child?" Yoko asked, apparently changing the subject.

Kenshin shook his head. "We never really consummated the marriage," he answered. "This one was younger then, and she did not love me that way. For that, this one does not blame her. This one killed her previous fiancé, the man she did love."

Yoko nodded. "Would you like a child, Himura-san?" he asked.

Kenshin smiled a young, contented, and very fond smile. "Children," he said happily. "This one is very fond of children, that he is."

"I can give you a child, if you would like, Himura-san."

"Oro?"

Yoko chuckled at the young man's sound of surprise, and slowly, carefully shifted his form. This was not a trick that the fox did regularly, or took upon himself lightly. Changing one's gender was a delicate and difficult matter, particularly since it tended to want to spring back to its natural state.

"Would you like a child, Himura-san?" Yoko asked again, but now the voice was light and purring, rather than deep and velvety.

"Why would you do such a thing for this one?" Kenshin asked cautiously.

Yoko smiled. "Demons are being pushed out of the human world," she said. "Soon, none will be left. I have many treasures still stashed in more hidden dens here. I need someone to keep charge of them until I can find a way to come back for them myself. That is my selfish reason for giving you a child. My other reason," she continued, reaching across the table to caress Kenshin's scarred cheek tenderly, "is because I think you need someone who you can love, and who will love you, as purely and unequivocally as a child. I will be able to help you raise the child for two years before I must leave human world. Himura Kenshin, would you like for me to give you a child?"

His eyes wide and his mouth only not hanging open because Yoko still had her hand cupping his jaw, Kenshin nodded once, slowly.

Yoko smiled. "It is time then, young killer, that someone taught you the pleasures of the living," she said, and standing, pulled Kenshin after her back to the curtained off bedroom.

~oOo~

Three months after that night, Kenshin held the child that Yoko had promised to give him. The pregnancy, for that is what it was, had a shorter term because of Yoko's animal nature and demon strength.

"She looks human, that she does," Kenshin observed, awed, even as Yoko returned to his original form.

"Of course," Yoko said. "If she had looked like me, she would have been hated for being only half human. She will show no sign of being a kitsune child unless -" Yoko cut himself off.

"Unless what?" Kenshin asked.

"No, do not worry Himura-san," Yoko said. "My genes will be in all of her line, but they shall be dormant unless their lives are threatened."

Kenshin nodded. "For her sake then," he said. "This one will teach her the sword, that he will."

Yoko hummed his quiet approval. He intended to leave books for his child. Books on every plant he had met in his long life, on medicines and poisons, and perhaps one that told the child about her origins, just in case. He had much writing to do.

"What will you call your daughter?" Yoko asked, gently stroking his child's soft face.

Kenshin looked up at Yoko, and blinked his large violet eyes. "Yuki," he said. "Himura Yuki."

Yoko nodded in acceptance. "It is a good name."

~oOo~

The peace of the den was shattered forever with the arrival of Himura Yuki, but neither Kenshin or Yoko minded all that much. Yoko, a true parent of his species, devoted himself to the child and catered to her needs with tender joy – even cleaning her. Of course, that didn't mean she always got what she wanted. It would have been bad for her character.

Kenshin too was a devoted father, and under his guidance Yuki learned to walk, talk, and smile in her first year, to recognise him, and to know Yoko, and to know when Yoko should not be disturbed because he was busy writing books for her.

"You might be called a young father," Yoko said as they tucked Yuki into bed. "But you are a good one all the same."

Kenshin smiled. "This one could not bare to be otherwise, that he could not," he answered quietly. "Yuki is as you said she would be, that is true. This one will love her until the day that he dies, that he will."

Yoko chuckled softly. He would miss that way Kenshin had of talking when he was forced to leave his little family. A frown slipped onto his face. That time had been growing nearer every day, and now it was only two weeks away. He would have to remind his little samurai.

~oOo~

"Why do you have to go?" Yuki asked as she and Kenshin stood at the entrance of the den with Yoko. "Why do _we_ have to go?"

Yoko felt his cold heart break a little at his daughter's question, but he knelt down in front of her and gave her a serious, honest answer. A serious, honest answer that left his daughter crying in his arms when he was finished.

"You can come back here," Yoko told her. "You can, any time you want. But right now if you stay then you will be in danger. I don't want you to be in danger my little Yuki-chan. You need to take care of your papa for me."

Yuki wiped her eyes and nodded fiercely. "I'll take care of Papa," she said, then smiled. "That I will."

Yoko smiled at his little girl, brushing his fingers through her hair for a last time and kissing her forehead before he stood and looked at Kenshin. He'd grown some more in the last two years, but Yoko was still taller, though the margin was less obvious now.

"This one will miss you, that he will," Kenshin said.

Yoko nodded. "I'll miss you too, my little samurai," Yoko answered, then pressed his lips to Kenshin's for the first time since that single night they had spent together. A goodbye kiss. "I will know her children when I meet them," he added when they parted, "should I ever return to this world."

Kenshin nodded and picked up the box that held their belongings – mostly Yuki's toys, books, and extra clothes – and slung it onto his back.

"It is time this one became a wanderer again, that is clear," he said softly. "Yuki-chan, come along. Yoko-sama insists that you do not see what will happen here, that he does. Come along."

"Yes Papa," Yuki said. "Good-bye Yoko-ma," she added sadly with a wave, then took Kenshin's hand and walked away from the den with him.

The next day, Yoko's den was empty. He had been ushered to demon world at last.

~oOo~

"Yuki-chan," Kenshin said, kneeling before his little girl as they stood on top of a hill, just a short way from the town that he had been headed to before leaving the road behind and going with Yoko those years ago. "You are to refer to Yoko-sama as your Kaa-san and only as Kaa-san when we are with other people, that you must."

Yuki nodded. It had been explained to her before by Yoko as well. He didn't like being called Kaa-san to his face, but it would be better for everyone if she spoke of her Kaa-san, rather than Yoko-ma, when she was with people other than her papa.

"This one will remember, that she will, Otou-sama," Yuki said.

Kenshin smiled. "You can still call me Papa if you want to though, that you may."

~oOo~


	2. Chapter 2

"Hitokiri Battōsai!" a female voice, slightly grating and very angry, yelled.

Kenshin turned at the name. He had not heard it for some time.

"I've found you!" the young woman continued angrily, holding out a wooden sword in challenge.

"Papa?" Yuki asked, surprised that someone knew who he had been – she had been told the stories of both of her parents for all of her two-and-a-half years, so she knew.

Kenshin smiled down at his daughter. "Go one and stand out of the way Yuki-chan," he said. "This one would not see you hurt, that he would not," he said quietly.

"For two months you have murdered at will," the young woman growled. "It ends now!"

"Oro?"

The young woman charged. "Don't play the fool! Who else would break the law by carrying a sword in this age?" she demanded, even as she swung at Kenshin.

Kenshin kept an eye on Yuki, and allowed himself to be sent flying.

"Papa!" Yuki yelped, running over to him. "How am I supposed to take care of you like Kaa-san said if you let this sort of thing happen to you?" the little girl demanded, trying to put on a brave face and ignore the tears that were gathering. She hadn't ever seen anybody but Yoko fight with her papa, and then it was friendly spars to work up a sweat and keep in shape. They'd explained it to her, that they had.

"This one is sorry to have worried you, that he is," Kenshin answered, patting Yuki on the head and smiling. "But this one is not hurt, that is the truth."

Yuki huffed, and then hugged Kenshin tightly.

"This is the mighty Battōsai?" the young woman asked, surprised and somewhat disappointed with what she was facing.

Kenshin smiled. "This one is just a wanderer, that he is, and father to this little one," he answered, sitting up properly. "A simple rurouni, travelling with no destination."

"We only just arrived in town today, that we did," Yuki put in petulantly, glaring up at the young woman. "So Papa can't have killed anyone here, that he couldn't have!"

The young woman stepped back, surprised by the presence of the child. She hadn't seen the little girl before. "Th-then what about the sword?" the woman asked. "It's against the law to carry a blade!" she nearly shouted, and reached for the handle.

Kenshin put his hand down over hers to stop her from drawing it, then drew it himself. "How many could be killed with a sword such as this?" he asked innocently, presenting the sakabatō to the young woman.

"Not many," she answered, seeing that the blade was reversed. "And the blade shows no wear, no smear of blood or sign of use. Then, you're really _just_ -?"

"A rurouni," Kenshin confirmed smiling, putting his sword away and patting Yuki's head.

"But why carry a blade you can't use?" she asked. A police whistle sounded then, and she ran off, not caring for the answer.

"Something interesting is going on Papa, that it is," Yuki said quietly, holding the sword for her father while he stood up.

"Would you like to see what it is?" he asked.

Yuki nodded.

"Then you must stay out of sight, that you must. This one will not risk losing you, that he will not," Kenshin said firmly, taking his sword back from his daughter.

Yuki nodded again.

~oOo~

"It is rather reckless to use a wooden sword against a real one," Kenshin scolded the young woman he had just saved from being sliced in two.

"That it is," confirmed Yuki from the wall she had been sitting on top of to watch.

"I am Battōsai the man slayer, I use the Kamiya-Kasshin style of swordsmanship!" the large swordsman declared as he ran away to the sound of police whistles blowing.

"Hold it!" the young woman yelled, still being held by Kenshin.

"You're being reckless again," father and daughter said together.

"That's my family's style! He's using our good name to murder people!" she protested, only to pass out from the stress, shock, and blood loss from where she'd been cut.

"Well she's one courageous girl, that she is," Kenshin observed. "Yuki, will you ask a policeman where the Kamiya house is so that we may take her home?"

Yuki nodded, hopped down from the wall, and went to tug on the tunic of one of the officers.

"Little girl, what are you doing out so late?" the officer asked, surprised to see her. "And here of all places."

"This one is keeping her papa out of trouble as best she can, that she is!" Yuki answered, pointing to Kenshin where he stood holding the girl. "And papa is saving the girl! We came to town just tonight, so we don't know where to take her home to, that we do not. Do you know Mr Policeman?"

The officer chuckled at the girl's speech, but followed her to where the young man held the girl.

"Oh, her," he observed, "yes, her family dojo is just this way, I'll show you."

Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice Kenshin's sword as he walked ahead of them down the street and around a couple of corners to the Kamiya dojo.

"Here you go," the officer said. "I'm sure she won't mind you staying the night after you saved her life like that. May I get your names though, as you both witnessed the incident?"

"This one is Himura Kenshin, that he is," Kenshin answered, setting the young woman down against the wall. "And my lovely daughter is Himura Yuki, that she is. We arrived in town just tonight, that we did."

The officer nodded. "That's fine, will you be staying here?" he asked.

Kenshin shrugged. "That is not for us to decide, that it is not. We should not like to impose, and this one has been a wanderer for much of his life, that he has," Kenshin answered. "Yuki-chan, will you go in and see if you can find some first aid supplies?"

Yuki nodded. They carried plenty with them anyway in the box from Yoko, but they were their own private supply, and doubtless this young woman had her own.

"We shall certainly stay here the night," Kenshin told the officer once his daughter had gone inside. "This one wishes you success in catching the man."

The officer nodded "I'll let the family doctor know she's gotten hurt again," he said, and with a wave, he left them.

"The bandages Papa!" Yuki called, returning.

Kenshin smiled at his little girl, and showed her how to clean and wrap a wound like the one the young woman had just received. It was a lot easier to show on a third party, than it was on her when she got scratched by thorns.

~oOo~

After he had bandaged the young woman's arm and set her on a futon and covered her with a quilt, he and Yuki had found another room, this one with two little girls already asleep inside. Kenshin had smiled and pulled out another futon for Yuki. She would have a chance to make friends here, that she would. He'd then kissed her goodnight and gone to sit in the dojo and sleep. It was his duty as father to watch over Yuki, and with no Yoko to help, and even more girls to watch over, he could not sleep on a futon that night.

He woke early the next morning and made a quick run to the early market for the ingredients for miso soup and rice balls. It had been an exciting night for Yuki, himself, and the young woman, and a good breakfast would be welcome.

The little girls woke up when he returned, and with Yuki there to welcome her father, and ask about making breakfast, the two other little girls quickly warmed up to him as well, much to Kenshin's delight.

He made rice balls to look like cute animals for them, and then they watched, fascinated, as he made the miso and gently put the chopped vegetables in, not making a splash at all.

Then the young woman woke up and joined them where he was sitting by the cooking fire with the pan, and the little girls beside him.

"Excuse me, but what are you doing?" she asked.

"Oh, you're awake are you?" Kenshin observed with a smile. "Your little sisters are very helpful indeed," he said, pleased that they had been helpful by only watching, "the four of us have already become good friends."

"They're our friends!" the two little girls said happily, one hugging Yuki and the other hugging Kenshin.

"This one was just making some breakfast, he was," Kenshin said. "Would you care to join us?"

"Here!" offered the older of the two little girls, while Yuki went to sit on her father's lap and the younger girl watched, still hugging Kenshin's arm, as her big sister held up the animal-styled rice balls.

"You made these yourself?" the young woman asked, then took a bite from one of them. "But... how can this be?" she seemed shocked, and not pleased.

"You... you do not approve of the taste?" Kenshin asked, worried he might have put in something that she was allergic to.

"I just don't like it when people cook better than me," the young woman corrected.

Yuki laughed. "Papa cooks too good, that he does!" she declared happily. "He cooked for himself until he met Okaa-san, and then Okaa-san taught him more about herbs and now Papa is the best cook in Japan, that he is!"

Kenshin laughed, a little uneasily, at his daughter's high praise, and patted her on the head. "As long as my daughter approves," he said.

Breakfast was eaten and the cooking things were cleaned up afterwards, and then an older man who introduced himself as Doctor Gensai arrived to look at the young woman's wound – and Kenshin finally learned her name. Kaoru. He also learned that the little girls were actually the doctor's grandchildren, and not Kaoru's sisters at all. But that was alright. They still got along with his Yuki, and it was important to him that she have friends. It didn't matter their family really.

"Mr Rurouni, I've decided that while you're in town, you may stay here at this school if you like," Kaoru declared, once the doctor had finished bandaging her up.

"Oro?"

"Well, you did save my life," she pointed out. "And you don't look like you've got money for an inn," she added. "Call it warrior's compassion."

Yuki laughed quietly.

"You don't even know who this one is," Kenshin pointed out. "Are you sure that is wise?"

Kaoru shrugged. "We all have things in our pasts that we don't want to talk about," she said. "I figure you're got good reasons for being a wanderer, and whatever they are, they're your own. What difference would it make for me to know?"

Yuki and Kenshin shared a sad smile at that. Kaoru was sweet, welcoming, and passionate about her family's good name, but she really had nothing on Yoko as far as brains went. They'd stay a while, if only to make sure she didn't get killed by that large man from the other night who was claiming to be the Battōsai.

When the last of the students of the school arrived, only to tell Kaoru that they were quitting, Yuki and Kenshin watched as she felt the heavy blow to her morale.

"Yuki-chan," Kenshin said quietly to his daughter, "would you like to study this style?"

Yuki pouted. "It is naïve lies, that it is," she said. "Someday we can hope that it will become the truth, but what good is it until then?"

Kenshin raised his eyebrows at his little girl. Yoko had said she would be human, just human, with his genes being dormant and recessive. Then there were moments like this, when the little girl who was just two-and-a-half years old seemed to be too grown up, and Kenshin knew she had gotten it from Yoko.

Yuki sighed. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt," she said softly, "but will you teach me your style when I am older Papa?"

Kenshin smiled at his little girl and patted her head. "I will," he promised. "You are my Yuki, that you are, and Yoko-sama would be disappointed if I did not teach our little girl everything that I could, that he would be."

Yuki beamed. "I'll be a good student, that I will!" she declared happily.

~oOo~

"I will risk my life to protect the art and teachings of my father and this school!" Kaoru declared in a vehement whisper as she sat in the dojo before the shrine.

"No," Kenshin said, stepping into the dojo with Yuki behind him. "If you believe in your father's teachings, then it is your duty to stay alive, Kaoru-dono. Besides, this one is quite sure that your father would not wish to protect his sword style at the expense of his daughter's life. This one is sure that what he would have wished for always, would be your happiness first Kaoru-dono."

"And if you died, then who would teach?" Yuki pointed out. "Kamiya-sensei."

Kaoru blinked at the address from the little girl, and looked back up at Kenshin, who smiled at her.

"This one would be honoured if you would teach his daughter about the sword that revitalises," Kenshin said. "This one intends to teach her his own style of swordsmanship when she gets older, that he does, but for now this one believes that the Kamiya-Kasshin would be a good beginning for his daughter, that he does."

~oOo~

Father and daughter were aware of Kaoru waking up in the middle of the night and running to the dojo for the student record.

Kenshin went to check on Yuki and her two friends.

"They're still sleeping, that they are," Yuki said softly when Kenshin opened the door. "I'm coming, that I am. I will watch and stay out of the way Papa, just like you and Yoko-ma taught me."

"Very well," Kenshin allowed, and his daughter followed him to the dojo, and watched as he incapacitated the single guard who stood outside the door.

"You'll put her down gently, you will," Kenshin said softly as he took in the scene of the large man from the night before, holding Kaoru a few feet above the ground, and a large number of young men all standing around, each one eager to spill blood. He could smell it, and it disgusted him.

"I remember you from yesterday," the large man said.

"I had a feeling that I should have taken care of you right then," Kenshin answered, still calm.

"You mustn't get involved! You're no match for him!" Kaoru objected, even though it was clear that she was in a bad situation.

"Another fool who thinks the sword can bring out peoples potentials," the large man sneered.

"No," Kenshin said, aware that he was about to say the same thing his daughter had just the day before. She was his child indeed. "A sword is a weapon. The art of swordsmanship is learning how to kill. That is the truth. What Kaoru-dono says is sweet and innocent talk that only those whose hands have never been stained with the blood of men can believe. But in the face of such an awful truth, this one much prefers Kaoru-dono's naïve lie. If this one had a single wish, it would be that someday her lie might become the truth for all of us," he finished, smiling.

"What are you guys waiting for? Get him! And make him die slowly!" the large man ordered his crowd of thugs.

"No don't!" Kaoru objected, pained still.

"I don't want anyone else to get hurt," Kenshin said, even as he loosened his sword in its sheath.

"There won't be any wounded!" one thug yelled.

"Just one dead body!" another finished, as they all charged at Kenshin.

Five seconds later, and Kenshin was the only one standing among all the laid out thugs, though the large man was still standing, holding Kaoru off the ground and glaring at Kenshin.

"Oh yes, and one more thing," Kenshin said, lowering his sword to his shoulder and looking over it at the large man. "The style used by the Battōsai is neither Kamiya-Kasshin, nor whatever it is that you claim. He uses an ancient style of the Sengoku era that pits one against many: Hiten Mitsurugi, a style that will not fail to kill – unless the sword used is this one," he added with a small smile.

"You're the... real Battōsai..." Kaoru whispered in realisation.

The large man dropped her and drew his sword. "Interesting," he said, stepping forward. "But there's only room for one Battōsai in this world. We'll have to see who's worthy of that title! And once I have defeated you, I will burn this place down and kill the girl!"

"Then you leave this one with no choice," Kenshin said, disappearing from the large man's sight, even as he prepared to strike. "Over here!" Kenshin called, just before he brought his sword down on the large man's fingers, breaking them all, and forcing the large man through the floor.

Yuki smiled and came running out of the shadows to hug her father. "You won!" she declared happily.

Kenshin smiled down at her, then addressed the fallen man. "This one has no attachment to the name 'Battōsai', but still, the likes of _you_ to use it either. Now you will no longer be able to hold a sword with either hand." That said, he turned to Kaoru. "My apologies Kaoru-dono," he said. "This one did not wish to hide the truth, but it is usually better if this isn't known."

"I can't believe it, everyone's still alive, they're just knocked out!" exclaimed the only one of the thugs that was still aware, staring at the scene.

"Go to the police and tell them everything that this man has done," Kenshin ordered.

The man ran, whimpering like a frightened and beaten dog the whole way.

"Papa?" Yuki asked, tugging on his sleeve. "What now?"

"Well, Kaoru-dono has a decision to make," Kenshin answered his daughter, folding his knees to rest on his heels and look her in the eye. "We are guests here, that we are, and wanderers. Having the man who truly was the Battōsai living under her roof could well cause problems for her dojo."

"That it could," Yuki agreed. "But Kaoru-dono will need help to fix the place up, that she will!"

Kenshin smiled at his little girl. "And you are her new student, that you are. It is up to Kaoru-dono if we may stay or if we must go."

Yuki turned from her father, and Kenshin looked up, both had their attention on the young woman now, and she squirmed under their contrasting violet and emerald gazes.

"I said before that your past was your own business and I meant it," she said. "Besides, I _will_ need help fixing this place up. I'm not asking the Battōsai to stay, I'm asking a wanderer and his daughter," she pointed out, then frowned. "A wanderer... I don't even know your name," she said, focused on Kenshin.

He smiled. He had introduced Yuki, but not himself. "This one is Kenshin Himura," he said. "Of course, the wanderer's life is the way of this one, so you may never know when we shall simply leave, or where to, but please excuse the intrusion for a little while."

Kaoru smiled, then another light bulb seemed to go off in her head. "Hang on, if you were a warrior in the Bakumatsu, just how old _are_ you?"

"Oro?" father and daughter chorused. What had brought on that question?

"With a face like that, you can't be over thirty, but to have fought in the war -?"

Kenshin rolled his eyes and smiled sheepishly at his little girl. Yuki only laughed at him.

~oOo~


	3. Chapter 3

It didn't take long for Kaoru to become frustrated that none of the other students had returned to the dojo, even if Yuki practised diligently every day – and Kenshin dodged every day to do chores instead.

"Why?" Kaoru demanded, only a week after it had all been cleared up. "You'd think that with it all cleared up we'd have twenty or thirty people coming back!"

"Auntie Kaoru," called one of Gensai's granddaughters, interrupting the young woman's rant. "I'm hungry."

"Me too," added the younger child.

"Me too," Gensaid added, appearing in the doorway.

"What's this?" Kenshin asked, having finished hanging up the laundry with Yuki and only just appeared in the same area.

"What's for lunch Uncle Kenshin?" the little girls asked, tugging on his sleeves.

"Papa?" Yuki added, smiling.

"I know!" Kaoru said, smiling. "When things are as quiet as this, it calls for a little frivolity!"

"Frivolity?" Kenshin asked, not at all sure he liked the sound of that.

"Hey, your treat?" Kaoru asked, smiling at him.

The three little girls laughed at his misfortune as he sagged and agreed. He had worked hard that day, and he was in no mood for making food just now. Besides, if they wanted anything more substantial than miso soup with turnip, then he'd need to shop anyway.

"Imagine that," Gensai said as they walked down the street. "I just came to pick up my two granddaughters."

"Kenshin insisted on taking us out to lunch," Kaoru said happily.

"Hey, I could go for some beef stew," the old man said, getting an echoing cheer from the two little girls.

"Oro? Who said anything about beef stew?" Kenshin asked morosely, stopping to watch them go ahead of him.

"Papa," Yuki said quietly from atop his shoulders, "you need to re-think staying with Kaoru-sensei."

Kenshin chuckled weakly. "Well, it is easier for you and your friends if I am there," he said. "Oh, Yuki look. A boy your Okaa-san would like."

Yuki looked. A boy who looked to be only ten or twelve dipped his hand smoothly into the robe of an old man, taking his wallet away without him noticing. He only went a few paces before the old man's grandson started cheering at the thought of getting a toy – and he returned the wallet.

Kenshin smiled and dropped a hand down on the boy's head.

"Hey! What do you think you're doin'!" the young boy demanded, throwing the hand off sharply and glaring up at Kenshin – then staring in shock at the little girl on his shoulders who was smiling.

"Nothing," Kenshin said with a smile, looking from the boy back to the old man and little boy. "This one simply thought that you were very kind."

Yuki nodded from Kenshin's shoulders. "A bad person wouldn't give it back, that he would not."

"Kenshin!" Kaoru said, grabbing onto his sleeve and dragging him away. "While you've been spacing out, everyone's gone ahead without you!"

~oOo~

Kaoru and Kenshin were walking back to the dojo, a full and slightly sleepy Yuki once more riding on Kenshin's shoulders, when the boy from before ran into the back of Kenshin, and then kept running, only to be tackled by Kaoru.

"Kenshin! This kid's a pickpocket! Here's your wallet!" Kaoru said angrily, not letting the kid up though she had removed the item from his old.

"We know," Yuki said tiredly, yawning.

"Get off me Ugly!" the boy yelled.

"What?" Kaoru demanded, picking the boy up a little and shaking him in her fury.

Kenshin smiled, took his wallet back from Kaoru and turned to regard the boy. "I think that Yuki's mother would like this boy," he said kindly.

"That Okaa-sama would," Yuki agreed. "Papa? Can he keep the money?"

Kenshin nodded and put his wallet into the boy's hand. "Next time, don't get caught," he advised.

The boy shoved the wallet back. "Don't give me your pity!" he demanded, standing. "I'm Myōjin Yahiko, and my father was a samurai! Don't think you're so tough just because you carry a sword around! My father would have wiped the floor with you!"

Kenshin smiled sadly. "A samurai's pride," he commented. "Why then, do you steal young one?"

Yahiko clenched his fist. "Father died in the war, and Mother of illness. I have debts to pay off," he admitted.

"You've a truly mature soul," Kenshin said. "And this one is sure that, had the times not changed, you would have made a find samurai. Don't ever lose that pride you have – but, why should it be wrong for one warrior to want to help another in these changing times?"

Yahiko blinked in surprise, his angry tears banished in shock.

"Hey Yahiko!" a voice called from the end of the bridge where the small group had come from. "We been lookin' for ya."

Yahiko growled, not turning around. "My debt collectors," he introduced with a growl. "From the Shuei sindicate."

Kenshin and Yuki both frowned, while Kaoru seemed to still be figuring it out.

"I see," Kenshin said, lowly, and picked his little girl up off of his shoulders and put her down. "Yuki-chan, you take Kaoru-dono home alright? I'll see what I can do."

Yuki nodded and tugged on Kaoru's sleeve, dragging her away down the bridge in their original direction, away from the 'debt collectors'.

"This one would like to meet the man who controls this young boy's debt, that he would," Kenshin said calmly.

The men snickered at the idea, but agreed.

Kenshin was shown to a private room. Just himself, the yakuza boss, his employed manslayer – Gasuke, and Yahiko.

"This one wishes to know the total debt, if indeed there is any, that this boy owes," Kenshin said plainly, his eyes hard as the looked at the boss of the syndicate.

The man had been eating his lunch when Kenshin was brought before him. He'd stopped and was staring in barely concealed fight since the door shut.

"Th-there isn't," he stuttered. "He paid it off two months ago, but the kid can't live on the pride of his family. We're teaching him a useful trade here, how to survive in a world that runs on money instead of honour!"

"Then this one believes that you owe the boy some money, to have been taking from him after his debt was paid," Kenshin said coldly.

The man nodded and reached into his robe, grabbing a wallet and handing it over as quickly as he could.

"Thank you," Kenshin said, standing. "We will be on our way now, that we will. Come along Yahiko."

Yahiko clearly wasn't happy about someone else doing his fighting for him, even if nothing had actually happened, but he followed anyway.

"Boss, you're not really going to just let the kid walk away with that nobody are you?" Gesuke asked.

"You will leave that man alone," the man ordered. "He's in a different class to you Gesuke. He's a man slayer from the war, the kind who doesn't answer to a yakuza or anybody. We're lucky he didn't do anything but ask for the kid. We could have been making coffins instead. If he got serious... we wouldn't be able to make _enough_ coffins."

~oOo~

"Welcome to the Kamiya dojo Yahiko," Kenshin said, coming to a stop at last in front of the dojo door. "In exchange for chores and dedication, you can learn to become stronger here – that is what you wanted, isn't it?"

Yahiko looked up at Kenshin in wonder and surprised awe before the words sunk in. "You mean it?" he asked.

Kenshin nodded. "Yuki-chan is currently the only student of Kaoru-dono, but this one is sure that you will be a fast study, and a good example to his daughter in her training."

"Kenshin?" Kaoru's voice came, worried, as she opened the door.

"This one has brought you a new student, that he has," Kenshin said with a smile. "He wishes to become stronger."

Yahiko pulled a face. "You mean this ugly girl is going to be my teacher?" he demanded, unimpressed and suddenly disillusioned with the idea of being made stronger in this place. "I'd learn more from a raccoon-dog!"

Yuki stepped out behind Kaoru. "This one has been studying under Kaoru-sensei for a week, that she has. You will learn _much_ if you open your eyes, ears and heart to take in her lessons, that you will," the little girl lectured the older boy.

"Your daughter?" Yahiko asked Kenshin, pointing at Yuki, recognising her from that afternoon.

Kenshin nodded with a proud smile.

"You got her mother to approve of the kid getting sword training?" Yahiko asked, sceptical.

"Yuki's mother is gone from us," Kenshin said solemnly. "But this one knows that such learning would have been insisted upon, that it would," he added, a little forcedly bright.

Yahiko sagged, but agreed to the training – and to being a good example for Yuki. A kid that young and cute? He felt like he had to be every time she turned those big green eyes on him.

~oOo~


	4. Chapter 4

The wanderer, Himura Kenshin, as well as his daughter Yuki and the boy that he had picked up, Myōjin Yahiko, had been living at the Kamiya dojo for a month when a carriage pulled up in front of it.

A police officer entered the compound, though the door of the carriage didn't open.

"Where is the person in charge of this dojo?" the officer demanded of Gensai – the old doctor had just been coming to collect his granddaughters when the carriage pulled up.

"Young man, if you can stand to be patient, I will go and fetch them for you," Gensai answered politely.

The officer seemed to fume behind his tiny moustache and round spectacles, but did, indeed, wait.

"Yes? I'm Kamiya Kaoru, owner of this dojo," the young woman said, stepping out of the front door to greet the man.

"I am the chief of police. We have it on authority that Himura Kenshin, the Battōsai, is here," the man snapped. "We demand that you produce him."

"Papa isn't a rabbit to be pulled out of a hat, that he is not," a little girl declared from the top step just before the door. "Besides, Papa went to buy tofu for lunch, that he did. He could be coming or going or somewhere in between, that he could." Yuki descended and looked up at the police chief, her large green eyes petulantly demanding an answer. "What do you want my papa for anyway?"

The chief stepped back, unable to handle a child as he would an adult, and automatically at a loss – it never looked good for representatives of the law to be seen by anybody to be man-handling children, especially little girls like this one.

A deep chuckle came from the carriage, and the door opened, revealing a tall man with salt-and-pepper hair, and a big moustache, and a very Western uniform on.

"I want to offer him a job in the government," the tall man said.

Yuki looked up at the man. "Papa will say no," she answered. "But if you won't believe this one, then go into town and find him yourself. He will tell you the same, that he will."

"Yahiko," Kaoru called, spotting the boy at the side of the building. "Go find Kenshin."

"On it!" the boy answered, and ran off.

"Would you like to come for a ride in the carriage with me?" the tall man offered. "I suspect you will want to supervise whatever conversation that I have with Himura."

Kaoru nodded cautiously, her grey eyes fixed on the man.

Yuki shook her head. "Not until you have introduced yourself," she said firmly.

The man laughed, while the chief of police had a minor heart attack, wanting to tell the child off for her insolence, but at the same time knowing that it would be pointless as she was, after all, a child.

"Forgive me young one. I am Yamagata Aritomo," the man said with a smile.

"Oh," Yuki said, "you're _that_ one. Papa never mentioned you had a moustache," she said, and then hopped past him into his carriage. "He'll still say no, that he will," she chirped happily.

~oOo~

When the carriage got into town, men in uniforms with swords were blatantly bullying the townspeople. Yahiko was tied up against a wall with three others, and Kenshin was just drawing his sword. The chief of police was still coming – on foot. Soon, only one uniformed swordsman was standing against Kenshin, and then he was being mobbed as a hero.

"Chief of police," Yamagata ordered when the man finally caught up. "Have those sword-toting bullies disciplined, dismissed, and put under arrest. In that order. That is not the correct behaviour of someone who works for the government, and certainly not for someone who holds a sword on its behalf."

"Yes sir," the man answered, ordering some of his men to clean up the mess.

Yamagata then stepped down from the carriage, and helped Kaoru and Yuki down as well.

"Excuse us please," his deep, commanding voice rang out, causing the excited people to calm down. "Himura, I've been looking for you for ten years."

"That is a fine moustache you have grown Yamagata," Kenshin answered with a gentle smile.

"I've a carriage waiting, I would like to talk," Yamagata said, gesturing to the carriage.

"We cannot do it out here?" Kenshin answered.

"Just like you," he sighed, before getting straight to the point. "I've come to offer you a place as an officer in the imperial army," Yamagata said. "Your compatriots from the revolution eagerly await your return. You are the missing piece that will assure our country's power!"

Yuki ignored the man and walked up to her father happily.

"Unfortunately, I have no desire to be assigned a key position in the government because of manslaughter," Kenshin answered, picking up his little girl and settling her onto the opposite hip to his sword.

"Papa decided that he would never kill again, that is the truth," Yuki said, hugging her father as he held her.

"I see," Yamagata said, sighing heavily. "You were the noblest aspect of the entire revolution Himura, if people can't accept that, I'll use my authority -"

"To force them to accept it?" Kenshin finished. "That is the exact train of thought that leads to corruption, like these men," he pointed out, even as Yamagata tensed, realising what he had been about to say. "We once fought for an ideal with our swords. It wasn't for power, or glory, but for a peaceful world where people could live without fear," Kenshin reminded his old friend. "If you should forget that, then what did we fight the revolution for?"

"Told you Papa would say no," Yuki said happily.

Kenshin chuckled at his little girl, nodded to his old friend, then turned to walk back to the dojo.

"Himura," Yamagata called after him. "The times have changed. It is the Meji era now, and because of the anti-sword laws the samurai are gone. You must realise that one man with one sword cannot hope to make any difference in the new world."

"Papa isn't one man," Yuki corrected, over Kenshin's shoulder. "He's Papa!"

Kenshin laughed at his daughter again, and turned to face his old friend once more. "Even if it is only the handful of people I meet in the street or in my home, I can protect them with one sword," he answered, laying a hand on Yahiko's shoulder and shifting his daughter a little higher on his hip.

Yuki watched those words sink into Yahiko's mind the whole walk back to the dojo.

"He understands now Papa," she whispered. "That he does."

Kenshin smiled to himself and kissed her brow.

~oOo~

"Huh? You're leaving?" Kaoru asked, surprised. Kenshin and Yuki had become such fixtures at the dojo, Kaoru was having a hard time imagining what it would be like without them, even though she knew there had been a time before.

Kenshin smiled. "This one is a wanderer, that is the truth. It is time to wander again. My Yuki's third birthday is coming, and this one would like for her to spend it with friends. After that, we shall move on again, that we shall."

Kaoru frowned in disappointment.

"What about Yahiko?" she asked. "He looks up to you, but he's no where near completed his training."

Kenshin smiled. "This one has watched your lessons and yourself when you have fought Kaoru-dono. This one will be able to continue Yahiko's teaching in the Kamiya-Kasshin style if he wishes to come with us, or the boy may stay with you and we shall visit," Kenshin answered. "But that is up to you and the boy, that it is," he said, then went to find Yahiko and tell him.

"You're leaving me behind Kenshin?" Yahiko asked.

"Only if you wish to stay," he answered. "I am a rurouni, and Yuki wanders with me. We are going to leave after she has celebrated her third birthday. You are welcome to join us. Your schooling in the Kamiya-Kasshin style will continue either way, that it will."

Yahiko sighed. "I'm gonna need some time to think about it," he answered.

Kenshin nodded. "That is a good answer, that it is," he said, patting the boy on the head, and standing up. "Now, there is someone at the gate who has come to see me."

~oOo~

"I'm not into involving women and children in the fights that I get paid to take on," Sanosuke said, having spotted Kaoru, Yahiko, little Yuki and her friends watching from the dojo steps.

"Kaoru-dono, will you take Dr Gensai's granddaughters inside? They have not seen me fight and should not," Kenshin called softly to the dojo instructor.

"What about Yahiko and Yuki?" Kaoru asked, even as she began to usher the two little girls away.

"My daughter has seen me fight before, and will do so again," Kenshin answered, "and Yahiko is a student of the sword. It will be unpleasant, but educational."

Kaoru nodded and took Dr Gensai's little girls inside, away from the fight.

"You don't mind them watching?" Sanosuke asked, raising an eyebrow at the kids. "Seems a bit callous of you."

"This one will not change his convictions to suit another," Kenshin answered. "Nor will this one lie to those in his care about who he was, or what he has done."

"You mean to tell me that little girl gets stories about you killing people when you tuck her in?" Sanosuke demanded with a disgusted sneer.

Kenshin shook his head. "Of the times when, after I had followed my orders for the sake of an ideal, I washed my hands five times and could still smell the blood on myself. Of the burden that I bear upon my soul for not remembering that every life I took had a family and loved ones," he answered.

"A man came and offered Papa a government position a while ago," Yuki said clearly. "Papa said no, that he did. He said that was not what he fought for, that is the truth. Papa is not the Battōsai any more."

Sanosuke considered the little girl, and the words of the man as well, then sighed. "Alright, but I've still got to fulfil my contract by fighting you, and I've been looking for a good fight for ages."

Kenshin nodded, and drew his sakabatō.

Half an hour later, he asked Kaoru to fetch Dr Gensai, while he taught Yuki and Yahiko as much as he knew about fixing all the different injuries that he had just given to the strong man who's weapon he had broken.

~oOo~

"Hey Himura," Sanosuke said when he finally woke up, two days later.

Yuki giggled. "This one will get Papa for you," she said. "That is the Himura you want to speak to, that it is!"

"Oro?" Kenshin said as he found Yuki running into his legs just outside the guest's sick-room.

"He's awake Papa!" Yuki announced.

"Ah," he said, and went through the door that was still open. "You will take some time to recover, that you will."

Sanosuke chuckled. "Yeah," he agreed. "But I want a rematch when I'm stronger, so don't you go disappearing on me."

Kenshin shook his head. "I'm afraid that plans for departure have begun already," he said. "This one intends to leave once my Yuki has enjoyed a birthday party with friends in this dojo. It is time that we moved on, that it is."

"Huh," Sanosuke said. "And when will that be?"

"You'll be able to celebrate with us Sanosuke-san, that you will," Yuki said. "My birthday is in one week, that it is."

~oOo~

Yahiko decided to stay at the Kamiya dojo, and Sanosuke gave up the idea of another fight, taking himself to another town to try making a more honest living. Yuki's birthday party was a buffet of rice balls, beef stew, and of course presents for the birthday girl. Most of these gifts were new clothes, as she was a growing girl after all, but also one who wandered with her father, so trinkets would only weigh her down, however pretty they were.

Kenshin shouldered Yoko's box and took Yuki's hand the next morning, and they left the town behind. They didn't know where they would end up by following the road, but eventually they would end up somewhere.

~oOo~

Kenshin brought Yuki back to visit the Kamiya dojo when she was ten, and again when she was sixteen. The second time they came back, Yahiko, who had grown into a very fine young man, couldn't stop staring at her. Kenshin took Yahiko aside one night after having watched the young man and his daughter interacting.

"Myōjin-san," Kenshin said respectfully to the young man that the little boy had become. "This one could not help but see the way your eyes watch Yuki."

Yahiko blushed and looked down.

"She has grown up to be very beautiful," he said quietly, not willing to look the Battōsai in the face as he said it.

Kenshin smiled. "Yes she has," he agreed. "This one would not be offended if you took his daughter to be your wife, that he would not, _unless_ you are promised to another already that is."

Yahiko did not look up. "I am though," he admitted.

Kenshin nodded. "Thank you for your honesty Yahiko," he said. "As such however, this one would appreciate it if you would therefore honour your promise to the one who you have already chosen, and not watch Yuki as you have been."

Yahiko nodded silently.

"This one hopes that you will still be a friend and brother-figure to her," Kenshin remarked, standing.

Yahiko nodded silently once more, still not looking up as the door slid open.

"This one thanks you, Yahiko-aniki," Yuki's voice rang quietly through the room from the door, "for being honest with her father." She bowed and followed her father out of the Kamiya dojo for the last time.

~oOo~

Yuki was sitting next to a roadside shrine, reading one of the books that her Yoko-ma had left for her, again, and waiting for her father to come back from using the bushes. It only took him so long because of the hakama, but she was used to it by now.

"What have we here?" sneered a man, his shadow falling over Yuki.

She sighed, closed her book, and slipped it into the travelling box she and her father now could take turns carrying.

"Oh-ho! It looks like the pretty little girl is actually going to play with us!" another voice jeered happily.

Yuki stood and withdrew from her own obi what appeared to be a wooden sword. Of course, it only appeared to be so because of the sword laws. Her father had permission to carry his sakabatō openly, she did not, so it was disguised. Beside, anyone seeing a girl carrying a real sword would take it off of her instantly, more because she was a girl than because of the sword law.

The men who had been leering at her were lying on the ground, their fingers broken, when Kenshin returned to his daughter's side once more.

"This one needs to find a proper husband for you, that he does. This cannot continue Yuki," he said, though he chuckled fondly. Between them, it had begun to become an old joke. After all, Yuki was nearly twenty now.

"This one will find her own proper husband, that she will," Yuki answered. "Just as soon as she can find a proper man."

~oOo~


	5. Chapter 5

Yoko ran from the Spirit Defence Force officer. Honestly, he was only trying to steal a small thing that would allow him to watch his family as the years passed. It was practically nothing to them after all, and he'd spent the last three hundred years gathering together all the other pieces that he would need for the project. With that last piece, he would have been able to tune into any generation of his progeny and watch over them.

The bastard got a lucky shot off just as he was about to make his getaway, so now he was hurt, weak, and in need of a hiding place. Yoko attached himself to the first foetus that was suitable. It wasn't of his descendants, but it would do, and he would be able to find Yuki's children soon enough.

~oOo~

In his new life, everything seemed to begin to happen when he turned ten. He found his little Kenshin and Yuki's descendants, and he met Hiei. Both immediately recognised him for what he was, though it took both of them a moment to figure out the who.

"You had a human child?" Hiei asked as they sat, watching the current generation teaching their child, while another teacher set a class to going through their katas.

Yoko Kurama nodded. For the sake of his hiding, he was going by his less famous name Kurama, rather than the feared title Yoko.

"Why?"

Kurama smiled softly. "I never told him you understand," he said softly, "but I fell for my little Battōsai and his sweet way of talking, his heavy soul and light step, his naïve ideals and mature convictions."

"Fox?"

Kurama chuckled. "In my cold way I loved him. I would be better suited to do so now of course, since I have learned properly what it is to love in the human way," he said, explaining the answer that he had given.

"Hn, love is a weakness," Hiei stated with a growl.

Kurama shook his head. "Only if you let it be. My little wanderer became a very dangerous swordsman again every time someone threatened those who could not defend themselves, and threatening those he loved would bring out the Battōsai he had given up being."

Hiei listened, curiously intrigued, and Kurama couldn't help but think of Hiei as a wondering child in that moment. Of course, he also knew that Hiei had not been a child for a very long time.

Kurama chuckled fondly to himself as he turned from watching Hiei's face to observing the young ones at their practice once more.

The dojo taught two different styles. Hiten Mitsurugi was taught only to the children of the Battōsai and Yoko, to the children of Yuki. The rest of the children who came for classes were taught in the Kamiya-Kasshin style. The difference between the styles was glaring, but the classes continued the same way.

Kurama had spoken with the elder of the family when he had finally found them and learned what had happened after he had left Kenshin and Yuki. The Kamiya dojo had become a sort-of home for them, and a bond like family had been established and kept, despite the Himura's habit of wandering. Some of Kenshin's words had been immortalised in the script of the dojo's philosophy, and Kurama smiled every time he read them, carved into the wood of the dojo shrine.

"Even if it is only the handful of people I happen to meet in the street or in my home, I can protect them with one sword."

"Fox, you're getting sentimental," Hiei pointed out dryly. "You will lose your edge if you keep it up."

Kurama chuckled softly. "Someday, little killer, I will teach _you_ the pleasures of the living," he said, slipping his arm around Hiei's waist and pulling the demon closer.

"I _will_ skewer you someday Kurama," Hiei answered with a growl, pushing the arm off.

Kurama laughed. "I'm counting on it," he answered, finally calming down.

Hiei's face turned red in embarrassment, though his scowl might have made onlookers think it was fury.

~oOo~

Shiori fell sick. The treatments made her weaker, and so while one thing was half-cured, other diseases attacked her, making her even worse off than before. The doctors apologised to the red-haired boy. She was not expected to live very long.

"You can't do anything?" Hiei asked as he sat with Kurama on the roof of the hospital one evening.

"No, it's too developed for any of my cures," he answered. "And the doctors can only make her comfortable. I am going to talk to the Himuras tomorrow, and ask them if they would meet my mother and discuss my custody. As a minor in the human world, I cannot live on my own, even if I am a centuries old spirit fox."

Hiei grunted. "Or do you just not want to save her?" he asked.

Kurama shook his head. "I love her, but I was not as easy child, and I know she misses her husband. I will not be so selfish as to keep her for myself when she would be happier moving on," Kurama answered. "Why?" he asked, turning a curious gaze to his friend.

Hiei grunted again. "The spirit world has the mirror of forlorn hope," he said. "You could wish for her to be healthy once more."

Kurama shook his head. "I know the price of that mirror," he said. "She would be without her husband and without her son. You don't care for her as I do, even if she _has_ become fond of giving you ice cream whenever you stop by, why do you suggest it?"

Hiei stiffened. "Caught," he muttered. "It is one of _three_ treasures," he pointed out.

Kurama huffed. "None of them would help you find your sister," he said flatly. "You would do better to petition Koenma for help."

"Says the fox who is only human because he was raiding a vault in spirit world," Hiei grumbled, though he sneered slightly, as though to challenge Kurama's abilities as a thief.

"I was going through their discarded technologies! Practically their junk! It was _pure chance_ that one of Enma's SDF was walking past and spotted me – I _am_ a famous criminal, even if I wasn't doing anything of particular interest to them that time." Kurama growled, "I'll bet that wretch brags about having caught me!"

Hiei laughed at Kurama's frustration. After all, the calm, collected fox nearly never let his emotions show. It was a rare treat.

~oOo~

"The children in the nearby park are having their souls sucked out of them," Hiei stated as he sat beside Kurama, watching as Mrs Himura taught her daughter the sword according to her mother, and her mother before her, all the way back to Yuki and the Battōsai. The family had only ever had one daughter in all their history, a little something from Yoko, but the husbands had always agreed to take their name. Himura Kenshin the Battōsai as their patriarch had that effect.

"That sounds like the third in that little set of spirit world treasures you were talking about," Kurama said, frowning at his friend. "You didn't have anything to do with it did you?"

Hiei shook his head. "No," he said. "But you mentioned I'd do better to appeal to Koenma for help finding my sister."

"Ah," Kurama said with a smile. "I see. Do you want company?"

Hiei smiled a little. "It might be a pleasant change to have a partner," he allowed.

~oOo~

Botan brought Kurama and Hiei before Koenma after they'd helped Yusuke to retrieve the stolen artefact.

"You have both done a favour for spirit world," Koenma observed. "I assume that you didn't do it simply because you thought it the right thing to do. You have favours to ask?"

Both of them nodded, but Hiei spoke first.

"My sister is missing," he stated. "I want to find her. I would also like to find the hiruseki stone that my mother cried for me."

Koenma nodded. "If one or both of them is in human world, we can find them," he said. "We have no jurisdiction in demon world though, so if they're there, I'm afraid there is little we can do to even locate them."

Hiei nodded, accepting that he wasn't going to get a better offer.

"My human mother is dying. When she passes away, I would like her to be shown to paradise, and hopefully her husband also," Kurama asked.

Koenma chuckled. "That is what is lined up for her anyway," he said. "Try again."

Kurama blinked and thought for a moment. "I would like to see the souls of Himura Kenshin and Himura Yuki for a short time, if I may? I was lover and parent respectively to them once, and I would like to know that they had good lives, and the afterlife is good to them."

"Himura Kenshin, the Hitokiri Battōsai, was given ten thousand years in paradise, as the good that he did, and his own burden of guilt, balanced out against the lives that he took. He'll be reincarnated when his time is up. Himura Yuki received the same deal as her father, but for different reasons – namely, she asked to be with her Papa. Dear girl missed him and didn't want to be apart from him again. We can certainly arrange a visit for you."

"Thank you," Kurama said, bowing slightly to demonstrate how appreciative he was.

"Now, I have a favour to ask of you," Koenma said.

~oOo~

"I can't believe we agreed to that," Hiei said, looking up at Kurama, a very slight frown on his face.

"We're getting paid to help a human boy beat up demons," Kurama reminded, smiling just as slightly as Hiei was frowning. "It's not a bad deal really."

Hiei snorted, folding his arms for a moment before letting them fall to his sides once more. "Your samurai," he commented softly, "seemed nice."

"That he was," Kurama agreed with a soft chuckle.

Hiei snorted again. "That speech habit got passed down to every child, didn't it? You liked it that much to curse the family with being unable to shake it?"

Kurama chuckled. "I only made sure all the children would be daughters with my genes dormant, just in case. That the speech patterns were taught and carried on down the line is nothing to do with me," he said happily. "It will be nice to live with them," he said after they had walked in silence for a while. "I do love my human mother, but the Himura family know of their heritage, and I won't have to hide who I am from them."

Hiei nodded. He didn't like hiding who he was either, and the Himura's trusted him as Kurama's friend even knowing what he was. It was... refreshing.

~oOo~

Shiori passed on peacefully, and the Kamiya-Kasshin students helped the Himura family move Kurama into their home – as well as use some of the things from the Minamino house to set up a room for Hiei, who had also been welcomed as part of the family.

Hiei watched the lessons every day as he waited for word on his sister, while Kurama went to school and avoided his peers as tactfully as he could. He didn't need to remain as Minamino Shuichi any longer, but it was a good disguise for him to study medicine in. After all, he didn't want to attract the attention of the SDF again, and knowing more about medical procedures would certainly not be a bad thing.

"Kurama!"

He halted and turned, looking up. Botan, the blue-haired reaper, was flying towards him on her oar, and she looked flustered.

"What is it Botan?" he asked calmly.

"We need you and Hiei to help Yusuke," she said, landing.

"Would this have anything to do with the makai insects that have been buzzing around?" Kurama asked, swiping one out of the air, crushing it, even as he asked the question.

Botan nodded. "The four Saint Beasts somehow got their hands on the makai whistle. They're demanding that they be released and granted access to human world, or the insects will keep on coming."

Kurama frowned. "A lose-lose situation," he observed. "We'll be killing them I suppose?"

Botan nodded. "Probably. Koenma just wants the whistle destroyed, but if you have to kill the Saint Beasts to do it, then you're free to do so."

Kurama nodded. "I'll go get Hiei. Where's the way in?"

~oOo~

"They're fools," Hiei commented to Kurama as they walked behind the two human boys to the gate of Maze Castle.

Kurama stifled a chuckle. "Yes, but they're young. They haven't learned not to be yet," he pointed out.

It wasn't long after that when the ceiling of the gate came down on them.

~oOo~

"I don't think he even realised that his spirit energy bent when he did that," Hiei commented to Kurama as Kuwabara once again charged his opponent – though they were still considering the 'monster beast donut'.

Kurama nodded and tapped Yusuke on the shoulder, pointing it out.

"So what?" Yusuke asked.

The two demons rolled their eyes.

"Is there some reason you wouldn't be able to control _your_ spirit energy in a similar way once you've released it?" Kurama suggested with a raised eyebrow.

Yusuke just blinked as he thought about that. He didn't get much time to, as the way was cleared to move on again soon enough.

~oOo~

After the last of the Saint Beasts – and the whistle – was destroyed, they returned to human world where Botan was waiting for them. She was holding four purses. Their pay for the job they'd just done.

~oOo~


	6. Chapter 6

"We've found Yukina," Botan said, landing beside Kurama, a worried look on her face. "We're sending Yusuke to get her since she's being held captive by a human. We _would_ send Hiei to get his sister back himself, it's his right, but we're worried that he'll kill the man."

Kurama blinked. "I'd say that death would be a deserving end for a man that is holding her captive," he said. "But you're worried about having to sentence Hiei for killing a human in human world, aren't you?"

Botan nodded. "Koenma doesn't want to do that, Hiei's a good guy after all. Callous, but good."

Kurama nodded. "You go with the detective, I'll keep an eye on Hiei."

Botan smiled as she sighed in relief. "Thanks Kurama."

~oOo~

"Fox, what do you want?" Hiei asked, surprised by not displeased by the company when Kurama sat down next to him to watch the kendo lesson.

"Yukina has been found," Kurama answered simply. "I wasn't told where, but asked to keep an eye on you, since it's a human holding her, and Koenma doesn't want to have to deal with sentencing you for killing someone who deserves it."  
Hiei growled. "If they deserve it-!" he began.

Kurama held up a hand to stop the smaller demon. "Because there are laws about demons killing humans in human world," he said. "I don't want to lose you because you did right by your family either. You can be there for her the instant Yusuke gets her out, alright?"

Hiei growled, still not pleased.

Kurama sighed. "Alright, then how about this? We go, we keep an eye on things, we incapacitate whoever we find and get Yukina out – but no killing. They may deserve it for what they do, but you don't deserve to be put in prison for it, especially now."

Hiei stopped growling, and nodded.

Between Hiei's third eye and Kurama's sense of smell, it wasn't hard for them to find Yusuke, Kuwabara and Botan. Finding Yukina still proved impossible for Hiei's eye though. The two demons growled when they realised that it probably meant she was surrounded by wards.

~oOo~

Kurama and Hiei watched, silently, as the horrible man made bets with his Black Black Club on whether Yusuke and Kuwabara would win fights with his hired guards or not. They would have gone straight for Yukina, but it would be easier – not to mention safer – if they waited until the ugly human brought her out himself. Which he would, with the way these bets were going.

When the final bets of Yusuke and Kuwabara against the Toguro brothers were made, Kurama scowled as he looked at the youngest member of the Black Black Club on the screen.

"Fox?" Hiei questioned.

"He's fixed the fight. Yusuke and Kuwabara will win, but Toguro... we'll have to watch out for him," Kurama answered.

"What about Yukina? This bet will cause that bastard to have her brought to him. That human won't demand her, will he?" Hiei asked.

Kurama shook his head. "I doubt it. If I could just _smell_ him! I'm sure he has something else planned. I very much doubt he cares if he keeps Yukina," Kurama answered.

Hiei nodded.

~oOo~

"I can't tell her I'm her brother," Hiei admitted quietly when Yukina was brought out to watch the fight between Yusuke, Kuwabara and the Toguro brothers. "It was the price for the Jagan, which was supposed to find her."

Kurama frowned. "Well it didn't," he said. "And I never made such a promise."

Hiei stared at Kurama, his mouth hanging open for a moment in shock at the barely veiled statement.

"Shall we go save her now?" Kurama asked with false cheer as the Black Black Club all disappeared from their screens.

Hiei snickered and smirked. All of the humans were unconscious in less than five seconds.

"Who – who are you?" Yukina asked.

"Nobody," Hiei answered, turning away.

Kurama chuckled. "Oh, don't mind your brother Yukina-san, Hiei's just a very closed off person when someone else threatens to tell his secrets for him," he said, winking one bright green eye at the girl.

Her eyes, the same ruby eyes that Hiei had, but rounded where his were sharp, and gentle where his were hard, widened as she stared out the open door and after the black-clad demon who had just helped to save her.

"I've been looking for him for so long," she said, smiling even as a tear slid soundlessly down her cheek, turning into another hiruseki stone as he dripped from her chin.

Kurama caught it before it could land on the ground, then folded it into Yukina's hand.

"Then go and tell him that," he said earnestly. "Hiei's grown up thinking that he doesn't deserve to be cared for," Kurama told her gently. "I've been working on him, but he's very hard to convince."

Yukina nodded and, as quickly as she could in her closely wrapped kimono, ran after Hiei.

~oOo~

"Invited to the Dark Tournament?" Hiei echoed, an eyebrow raised as he and Kurama considered the two suited individuals who had come to visit them at the Kamiya dojo.

"Of course, you are not permitted to decline," the woman said pleasantly. "You must have a team of five to enter. You may have one substitute."

"Who else is being 'invited'?" Kurama asked.

"The spirit detective Urameshi Yusuke, and his friend Kuwabara Kazuma," the woman answered, a slightly sinister smile on her red-painted lips. "A fifth person has been approached as well, but they participated in the Tournament before and asked only to never be bother again. We simply told them who was being invited, and left it up to them if they wanted to join the guest team or not."

Kurama and Hiei frowned.

The trollish male who had come with the woman flicked two cards at them – the when and where for the Tournament pick-up. With that, they left.

"Ancestor?" called the soft voice of Himura Akane, the mother of Himura Umi, the next generation of the Himura line. Umi, who was sixteen now, stood beside her in the open doorway. The girl was, in human years, older than Kurama's current body, but still both she and her mother showed deference to Hiei and Kurama as more ancient souls than themselves. Akane had the same red-orange hair and violet eyes of Kenshin, though a slighter build than the young swordsman had been in possession of. Umi was destined to be taller – from her father's side – but she had the same hair as her mother, and the eyes that Yoko had given to his little Yuki. The same eyes and hair he had fashioned for his own human body in Shiori's womb.

"Yes Akane-sama?"

"This one is willing to fight by your side, that she is."

Kurama's heart beat heavily in his chest. "What of Umi-san?" he asked. "You could die in this fight and risk leaving your daughter."

Akane lay a hand on Umi's shoulder. "Should that happen, then Umi will be cared for by the Kamiya family, that she will. This one is satisfied that her daughter has mastered the Hiten Mitsurugi sufficiently to pass on to her children, that is the truth."

"Umi-san?" Kurama asked, turning to the daughter. "Are you alright with this?"

"I love my mother, that I do," she admitted. "But she is strong, that she is. This one will not fear for my mother's life, that I will not. It would be disrespectful to her skill with the sword."

"Should you enter this fight, then the Hiten Mitsurugi will need to become once more what it was," Hiei stated. "The sword that kills."

"Even a sword that kills some can protect many more, that it can," Akane said firmly.

Kurama sighed. "You are determined?" he asked. "You will not change your minds?"

Both of the women nodded firmly. "That we are," they said.

"If the fifth person who has been invited by the committee of the Tournament comes, then I ask you to take the position of reserve fighter for the team. I do not wish to see the children of Himura Kenshin come to unnecessary harm," Kurama said his green eyes fixed firmly on the two women before him. "In body or in spirit."

Akane and Umi nodded.

~oOo~

Kuwabara caught up with Kurama as he was walking through the park on his way back to the dojo after school. Honestly, he was glad. The boy was going to need training.

"You have a sword," Kurama agreed when Kuwabara said he'd be just fine, "but you don't really know how to use it. Have you ever studied kendo? Or thought about how your energy is flexible?"

Kuwabara looked like a stunned fish.

"That's a no," Kurama said with a sigh. "Come along. The sooner you start learning, the later you'll die."

The comment caused the large boy to turn pale before chasing after Kurama, all the way back to the dojo.

Hiei was watching the classes again, taking a short break from his own training, while Akane ran through the basics once more with Umi and Kamiya-sensei taught his students the way of the sword that protects. He left the dojo when he felt Kurama's presence returned to the property, scowling when he sensed the oaf as well.

"He needs to learn swordsmanship Hiei," Kurama said, halting any comments. "I'm sure Kamiya-sensei won't mind having another student in his beginners class."

Hiei chuckled and nodded. "I'll get your family, now that you're back. Umi-san has been wanting to spar, and Akane-san still needs more instruction on accessing her energy."

Kurama nodded his acceptance. This had become the daily routine very quickly. One of the Himuras would spar with Hiei, the other would learn to access their energy from Kurama. Yukina, who had also come to live with them, spent more time with Umi's grandmother, Haruhi, helping the old woman about the dojo. Of course, she also frequently got dragged out to go shopping by Umi, who had decided that having a 'little sister by association' was wonderful – and also that going shopping was a good way to distract themselves from worrying about their family members who would be taking part in the Dark Tournament.

~oOo~

"Teaching him how to actually use a sword has barely helped," Hiei complained quietly to Kurama as they watched Kuwabara fight.

Kurama sighed and nodded.

The boy was a street thug, not a samurai. That would never change. Still, they won the tournament at least.

~oOo~

"Ancestor!" Umi cried, running through the dojo in search of Kurama.

"Umi-san? What's the matter?" Kurama asked, halting the girl gently and looking at her with concern in his large green eyes. She was his family. If she'd been his fangirl that would have been a different story.

Umi panted for a moment, then straightened and held out her hand. A seed lay in the middle of her palm, and as Kurama watched, it sprouted and grew.

"It – the power – just suddenly got a lot stronger," she said quietly. "In Mother and Grandmama too, that it did!"

"It suddenly got..." Kurama echoed, trying to figure out what might have caused it as he watched the seed become a flower in Umi's hand. "We need to talk to Koenma about this. For your powers to have all suddenly jumped like this, something must have happened between the three worlds."

Umi nodded.

~oOo~

Koenma sighed in his chair and sagged. "Thanks to the Himura family, we have early warning. Someone is opening a portal between demon world and human world. We need to find them and stop them, fast."

The assembled team – Yusuke, Kuawbara, Hiei, Kurama, as well as Botan and Umi – nodded firmly.

"Kurama, a word if you please," Koenma called as the rest filed out to begin searching.

"Yes Koenma?"

"That Himura Umi, she's one of your -?"

Kurama nodded. "My genes are recessive and dormant unless something wakes them," he said.

Koenma sighed. "If my father finds out, he will _not_ be pleased."

Kurama's eyes hardened. "If something happens to Akane-san or Umi, then your father has no say in what becomes of them."

Koenma sighed, but nodded. "The Himura family have done many great things for their country, and their world. I will do my best to keep my father away from them should something happen."

Kurama nodded and left.

~oOo~

The team arrived earlier, much, much earlier, than Sensui had anticipated. Kuwabara, due to his spirit sword currently not working, had stayed with his sister, as well as Yukina and Keiko, while Akane and Umi took his place on the team together. Hiei grumbled a great deal less about working with the two women than he had about working with Kuwabara.

They followed the small amount of data that spirit world was able to give them, and then let Hiei's third eye and Kurama's nose guide them.

Sensui frowned when he saw them. "Spirit world is catching on faster than it used to," he said lowly.

~oOo~

"Ancestor?" Umi asked softly as the group walked back out of the cave.

"Yes Umi-san?"

"Is that what would happen to us in the same circumstance?"

Yusuke had died, and the group had all fought on, even Koenma, until Yusuke had, surprising them all, come back to life radiating demon energy. The SDF had shown up then, late, and tried to restrain Yusuke even though Sensui was still a problem. Kurama had restrained them with plants, and the fight, the original fight, had continued until they had collectively overpowered the ex-detective.

"Yes, something like that. Hopefully without the interference of the SDF though."

Umi nodded quietly. "This one is not sure how she would take having wild hair and strange tattoos, that she is not," she commented softly.

Kurama chuckled. "That is unique to the type of demon that Yusuke is."

"Oh."

~oOo~

Hiei and Kurama sat together with the three Himura women and Yukina in the dojo. It was late, the students had gone home, and the Kamiya family were asleep. They were watching the spell of words that had been delivered to each of the two male demons from Mukuro and Yomi.

"Please Hiei," Yukina said, laying one of her hands over both of his. "Don't go. What purpose will it serve?"

"I am still searching for my hiroseki stone," he answered. "I can't find it in human world, and Koenma says that it isn't in spirit world either."

"But do you really think that working for Mukuro will help you to find it?" Yukina demanded, fighting back her own tears.

Hiei reached up and rubbed the forming droplets away tenderly. "Probably not," he allowed. "What about you Kurama?" he asked, turning from his sister to his friend, though he had wrapped his arms around Yukina's shoulders and was holding her close to him.

"I am not sure," Kurama said softly, a frown on his face.

"You are not his servant to be bidden Ancestor, that you are not," Haruhi said, her soft, old, wizened voice was firm in her single statement.

The frown eased into the softest of smiles on Kurama's face at the old woman's words, and he breathed deeply.

"No," he agreed. "I am not."

"Knock, knock," called a voice from the dojo door. A familiar voice. "Sorry for stopping by so late, but I need some advice and your light was on."

"Come in Yusuke," Kurama said, smiling over his shoulder at the newly realised demon. "What is troubling you?"

"I got a summons from my demon 'father' to come to demon world," Yusuke answered, sitting down with them on the tatami mats. "I ain't too sure I want to go, but at the same time I'm not all that clear on if I _can_ stay," he said, and began to explain about the three bald demons who had come to him with the message, and all the stuff they'd said to him.

~oOo~

They went together to Raizen. Kurama even called in Jin, Touya, Chu, Rinku, Shishiwakamaru and Suzuka – who they had become friends with during the Dark Tournament. They had, of sorts, a plan.

~oOo~

"I was expecting you sooner Kurama," Yomi said, slightly reprimanding.

"I bear a message from Raizen's territory."

"What?"

"Raizen is dead, and his son Yusuke has taken the throne. However, he proposes a tournament for all of demon world, winner takes all, where all is full and unchallenged authority to rule over the entirety of demon world."

"Who would agree to such a thing?"

"Mukuro already has, for one."

Yomi grit his teeth in agitation. "Very well," he said with a growl as he stood. "I also agree."

~oOo~

Enki won.

Hiei, Kurama and Yusuke all went back to human world.

"You're alright!" Yukina exclaimed happily, throwing her arms around her brother when he walked back onto the Kamiya-Himura property.

"That they are," Akane said with a happy chuckle, Umi and Haruhi standing on either side of her, nodding happily.

Kurama chuckled happily as Yukina released Hiei, blushing at having worried when she _knew_ he was a good fighter, and Hiei just patting her head happily, finally used to having family who cared about his welfare.

"Excuse me a moment Yukina?" Kurama asked politely, before grabbing Hiei around the waist. "I have been waiting to do this for some time," he whispered to Hiei, "that I have," and he kissed the shorter demon full on the lips.

"Oro!" Hiei yelped when they parted.

"Hiei, will you be my mate?"

"Fox! I – you had to ask _after_ you kissed me!" the shorter demon growled, reaching up to pull Kurama into another kiss.

The women who were watching all laughed in delight.

"Go Ancestor!" Umi cheered, laughing.

"I'm so happy for you Hiei," Yukina said, smiling brightly.

~The End~


End file.
